tbain Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Can anyone recommend some really good short books or reads? Whether they be short stories or a short book. My reading mojo has upped and left, I think it is because I have been so busy with the children, work etc. Going to try some shorter reads and maybe that will get me reading again, rather than attempting to read any big long sagas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysalis_stage Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 I would recommend/ these I have enjoyed recently: (all books with a collection of short stories by one author) The yellow wallpaper and other stories - Charlotte Perkins Gilman The diary of a madman and other stories - Nikolai Gogol Metamorphosis and other stories - Franz Kafka The elephant vanishes - Haruki Murakami What you make it - Michel Marshall Smith Both Edgar Allan Poe and H P Lovecraft do horrorish short stories Oh also have you read Animal Farm - George Orwell (you probably have as its a classic) but from experience I read that (only about 100 pages) and it got my mojo back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 There are a bunch of "quick reads" released each World Book Day and a lot of those are good. I've only read a handful myself, but I've heard good things in general. Yuo can find the list of 2009 Quick Reads HERE, along with the entire back catalogue of all the other Quick Read releases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethany725 Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I don't read many short stories for some reason, but I did read one in college (assigned by one of the young, "cool" teachers) that has stuck with me and I've re-read many times: The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris. It's REALLY funny.. he's witty, sarcastic, and has a great writing style. AND if you like that one, he has many more short stories .. He has 4 or 5 books made up of short stories, I think, and lots of them are strong stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 These days I'm more of a book person but when I was younger I loved short stories.....my favourite collection of all being Isaac Bashevis Singers Collected Stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I don't read many short stories, but I really liked A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li, and also People I Wanted To Be by Gina Ochsner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 The best short story I ever read, period, is "Sentry" by Fredrick Brown; you can find it in his collected short sci-fi "From These Ashes". I'd also recommend the short fiction of that other master of science fiction, Ray Bradbury and Richard Bach's very short but life-changing novel "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontesusie Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I'm currently reading The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier. Susan Hill has a book of shorts called The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read (I think it's Beekeeper!). Any of the Granta series contains short stories and bit of non fiction. If you want something more 'historical' try Kate Chopin or Guy du Maupassant. Happy reading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Short books I've enjoyed include Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett and The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Hiya tbain, love that avatar, by the way! I've been like yourself lately, struggling to get into full length books. Instead of reading, I've taken to writing some short stories. I'd be honoured if you read them. 'Ryan' is in the Writers Corner, under the thread 'A slice of flash fiction if you fancy...' 'In The Chamber Of The World' is also there under the thread 'Short story here for reading...' I'd be pleased to hear any comments you might have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Breakfast at Tiffany's is a good book, and less than 100 pages. Also, Annie Proulx's Wyoming story collections are good. There are three books (Close Range, Bad Dirt and Fine Just the Way It Is), which are all collections of short stories set in Wyoming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewell Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Isaac Asimov has done more short stories than i could number. If you get a book of his collection of and see what you think. People tend to think of him as being a science fiction writer, but i was pleasantly surprised to find he has written on a number of subjects and issues. His stories do have a science fiction base, but it's not all about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babe*With*Brains Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 i'm addicted to horror short stories. I have this odd habit (don't judge!) of getting up in the middle of the night and reading one from the collection i so happen to have at the time (i borrow alot from the library) whilst eating a frozen kitkat chunky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euphorix Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 This. Buy this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 i'm addicted to horror short stories. I have this odd habit (don't judge!) of getting up in the middle of the night and reading one from the collection i so happen to have at the time (i borrow alot from the library) whilst eating a frozen kitkat chunkyThat sounds like fun actually although I would probably leave freezing the (peanut butter, does one even need to specify?) kit kat chunky to save my poor jaw...! What collection are you munching through at the moment, any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirinrob Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Thought i'd add the 'the Old Man and the Sea' -e Hemingway. beautiful narrative, conjured up for me sublime images ' the thin cry of the birds was too delicate for the sea' as an example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbid Hermit Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 As chrysalis_stage previously mentioned, H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe wrote some tremendous short stories. Plenty of the older horror writers wrote some great short stories actually... Bram Stoker for instance is mainly known for the full-length novel Dracula of course, but he also wrote short stories such as The Judge's House which I really like. I think Montague Rhodes James (usually just known as M.R. James) is regarded as the master of old fashioned short ghost stories. Check out 'Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James' to read almost all of them in one book! 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You My Lad' in particular is generally referred to as a great example of the genre. I suppose his stories would be considered very tame by today's standards, but his work was more about creating a certain eerie feeling where the reader's imagination takes over, rather than being explicit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueK Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 I'm a great fan of the short story and as mentioned above, books by M R James are just brilliant. In the space of a few pages he frightens the out of you:D On a more psychological basis, Du Maurier can write some pretty tense short stories, ie The Birds, Don't Look Now and Monte Verita to name a few. HE Bates write the quintessential English pastoral short story; I think I mentioned it before, where you can feel the heat of the English summer and hear the tractors in the distance. My favourite has to be Guy du Maupassant though, I believe is the master of the short story and you only have to read "The Necklace" which is about 2/3 pages long and has you in tears:roll:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccles Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 I love the Jeffery Archer short stories Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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